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Oceanographers, marine biologists and geologists are the scientists most commonly associated with studying changes in sea-ice. But these days, it just might be a mathematician drilling ice cores in the Antarctic. With 17 trips to the Arctic and Antarctic under his belt, Ken Golden of the University of Utah has made a career of helping better understand the mathematics of what goes on inside the thick layers of sea-ice in those regions.
Understanding sea ice and how it behaves could advance research across a wide range of sciences. Pictured here is the albedo effect: Networks of melt ponds create darker areas on the otherwise-reflective surface of sea ice. More advanced models of the evolution of melt ponds over the polar summer could help researchers improve long term projections of sea-ice melt, and better understand the role of sea ice in Earth's climate system. Click here for a video on this research.Image credit: Don Perovich
